Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Preparation
Rudian sent Eldorado's A.I. back and escaped from the dungeon.
Since they were the ones who broke the promise first, there was nothing to hold back on this side now.
"Will it be possible?"
-Of course, what do you take me for?
At Adi's confident answer, Rudian finally felt at ease.
If things went as expected, he might witness quite an interesting spectacle soon.
***
The capital Nevan was still in a state of tense tension due to the intensifying power struggle within the imperial palace.
While Asmodeus was causing chaos in the capital through the 3rd Prince, she deliberately didn't touch Delphione and Bellatrix, who were on the alliance side.
Since they suffered no losses while the neighboring house was in turmoil, Vincent and Sonya's attention naturally turned in that direction.
They had met with Asmodeus once out of courtesy, but she disgustingly put on a poker face, claiming she was keeping her promises well.
As time passed, the political situation gradually became more chaotic.
The noble society continued in an atmosphere where even the slightest mistake could cause a bloodbath.
In this situation, several noble factions were paying attention to Rudian Belstad, a rising new noble with connections to the Delphione family.
***
In such circumstances, Rudian was currently...
TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP! TAP!
… Diligently whipping meringue.
This was 30 minutes ago.
The employees of the Belstad family were startled and bowed their heads when the new Viscount who had become their master suddenly barged into the kitchen.
But when Rudian suddenly requested ingredients like cream cheese, coffee, and sugar, they momentarily spaced out with expressions like 'What is this gentleman talking about now?'
"We, we'll do it, Viscount!"
"No, this is something I must do myself."
Behind him, Yev was sitting at the dining table with a knife and fork, eyes sparkling as she watched.
What Rudian was aiming for was tiramisu.
He mixed water, espresso, sugar, and coffee liqueur and let it cool, then mixed the diligently whipped meringue with egg yolks, cake flour, vanilla extract, and other ingredients to make ladyfinger cookies.
'It's fortunate that the ingredients were available.'
Even in an era where magic was advanced, spices and sweeteners were still expensive.
The three days' worth of food expenses that Yev had devoured at the dessert shop overwhelmed Rudian's entire month's expenditure since coming to the capital.
The employees, despite being terrified, quietly watched Rudian's work while being mindful.
Although he was a new master they had only recently met, his kind treatment not only to employees but also to slaves was completely different from the nobles they had seen so far.
Especially compared to the previous master who had terrorized the mansion, Rudian was an angel himself.
Under the gaze of employees mixed with half fear and half curiosity, Rudian steadily completed his work.
The tiramisu, completed by sprinkling cocoa powder, was placed in front of Yev.
"Here, eat."
"...!"
Yev's eyes, lost in gluttony, blatantly sparkled.
'...She's not going to dislike it because it has coffee in it, is she?'
Behind Rudian, the chef hired by the family was peering at the completed tiramisu with an interested expression.
Yev scooped up a spoonful of tiramisu with a small spoon and put it in her mouth.
Then she slightly opened her mouth and showed an admiring expression.
"...Delicious!"
"Re, really?"
"Really."
Seeing her even add emphasis, it seemed genuinely good.
Only after seeing Yev start to deliciously devour the tiramisu did Rudian let out a sigh of relief internally.
Yev's pressure to present tribute as soon as they returned to the capital was not something an ordinary mortal could easily endure.
In the end, he had no choice but to handle only the most urgent matters and postpone everything else to focus on making desserts.
"Ma, Master, Young Lord Gray Bellatrix has come to visit."
"Ah, yes? Gray?"
It wasn't very pleasant to have another bombshell arrive just when he had overcome one life crisis and was feeling relieved.
"Tell him to come here."
"Yes, I understand, Master."
"...From next time, please replace that word 'Master' with something else."
"Ah! So, sorry, Viscount!"
"No, you don't need to jump like that..."
He was treating them kindly, but the employees and slaves were still afraid of Rudian.
It was probably due to the influence of the previous master, Gude.
Still, it was quite problematic that they were so startled by a single word when he wanted to get close to them.
"Hey, brother. I'm here."
"...You came?"
When Delphione and Bellatrix formed an alliance, he had become quite close with Gray.
Gray, who had now risen to the level of a friendly younger brother living next door, showed deep interest while looking at the tiramisu that Yev was munching on.
"Huh? What's this, don't tell me brother made it?"
"...That's right."
Gray, who was quite perceptive, caught all the surrounding tools and the chef's expression to deduce the truth.
Then he scooped a spoonful from the tiramisu container that Yev was eating and put it in his mouth.
"...?"
"Hey, hey, you bastard!"
"What, it's delicious?"
Behind the admiring Gray, Yev's tremendous killing intent began to emanate.
Outer Force filled with rage began to swirl in the eyes of Yev, who had her portion stolen in an instant.
"Wait, wait! There's one more, so eat this!"
Detecting the danger, Rudian presented a container of cookies he had secretly bought just in case to Yev.
"..."
Only when another tribute appeared before her eyes did Yev's Outer Force begin to subside.
"What, don't tell me she got upset over one stolen bite... Guk!"
Gray was about to dismiss it as a simple child's tantrum when he got hit in the forehead by Rudian and was dragged out.
"Wh, what are you doing!"
"I'd like you to know that I saved your life today."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"...There's such a thing."
It seemed Luciella and Maria hadn't told this guy about Yev.
Well, there would be opportunities to explain about Yev later, so setting that aside for now.
"The fact that you came here directly means things have progressed to some extent, right?"
As soon as they sat down, Rudian got to the point.
"Right. As you said, I succeeded in winning over some of the nobles."
Gray nodded while putting the snacks Rudian provided in his mouth.
"Court Baron Rotes, Count Silanon, and Viscount Raiha. As you said, they too seemed to have doubts about the current political situation."
"What about the most important GrandDuke Quihiller?"
"...Sorry, we were completely refused an audience there. He says he's completely retired and has no intention of interfering in politics."
At those words, Rudian clicked his tongue.
"That's quite disappointing..."
"If we had brought up the demon story, he would have definitely been fired up, but as you said, that's still a sensitive topic for nobles other than us."
All the people mentioned by Gray were related to the Morian Empire's military.
Before going to retrieve Eldorado, Rudian had recommended through Vincent and Sonya to reach out to several nobles.
In a situation where it was suspicious who might be a demon's minion, an alliance with trustworthy people was naturally welcome.
Rudian remembered several figures who had been active in the war against demons in Chapter 1, and confidently recommended them.
Three people were brought in this way.
Among them, Court Baron Rotes was the indomitable knight commander leading the Empire's Central Knight Order and famous as the rival of Sword Master Kaitel.
Count Silanon and Viscount Raiha were also military powerhouses holding military authority over tens of thousands.
"There was no need to even mention the name demons. The 3rd Prince's rampage alone was enough for them to feel danger."
Especially as several notable nobles were blatantly assassinated, the nobles began to strengthen their unity using their own networks.
"Empire authority is falling to the ground. Why on earth is His Majesty the Emperor remaining silent?"
Gray gritted his teeth.
As a noble, the fall of empire authority could be considered good, but in a situation where external dangers were so obviously visible, the fall of empire authority was merely a shortcut to national ruin.
Rudian pondered Gray's words carefully before speaking.
"Maybe there's a reason he has to remain silent?"
"A reason? What reason?"
"For example... The 1st Prince."
"...!"
"It's not just the Emperor's side that's remaining silent in the current situation. The 1st Prince and the 1st Prince faction nobles are also remaining silent."
"Don't tell me, hostage? Are they being threatened?"
"We can't rule out that possibility."
In the original work, the one who sat on the emperor's throne was the 3rd Prince, supported by Asmodeus and Gude Belstad.
Although he was eventually torn apart by nobles who rose up after it was revealed that he was a demon's puppet, in a situation where enough time had already passed, the 1st Prince's whereabouts were outside readers' interest, and the original author had only left small hints that he was already dead without treating it as a major plot point.
"Unlike the Emperor who still shows his face in state affairs, the 1st Prince hasn't shown himself for a long time. Perhaps if we dig into this part, something will come up?"
"Are you suggesting we infiltrate the Imperial palace?"
"Infiltration sounds good. We can clearly reveal the whole story."
"Crazy."
With Diablo's stealth ability, the Imperial palace would be a piece of cake.
"But there's something we need to resolve first."
"Resolve? What matter?"
"Psychic Luminous, I heard there's some trouble there."
Rudian sighed and looked toward the east where Maria would be.
***
Psychic Luminous was currently experiencing a renaissance.
No, since they had been suffering underwater since the organization's formation, it was fair to say that now was actually their golden age.
"The hardliners are causing trouble..."
The psychic ability theory materials that Rudian had provided were said to have made considerable progress.
Many people had rapidly improved their abilities based on that theory, and the cultivation of next-generation psychic ability users was also proceeding smoothly.
Moreover, beyond internal aspects, backed by the support of Duke Delphione's family, they had integrated over 80% of the capital's underworld forces and risen as the emperor of darkness, so the term golden age was not lacking.
Rudian tapped the desk with his fingertips and said.
"The force they originally had was comparable to the Four Great Magic Towers, so I understand their desire to emerge into the light and be active."
Gray's rebuttal immediately followed.
"Those ignorant bastards want to stand shoulder to shoulder with us magicians?"
"Yes, because there are guys like you, they want to go into the light even more."
At the prejudice against psychic ability users that had penetrated to the bone, Rudian held his forehead.
In fact, one of the reasons why Psychic Luminous' dissatisfaction had intensified recently was because of the alliance with Bellatrix right in front of him.
-Why do we form an alliance with those magician bastards when we're here!
Honestly, in terms of power, Psychic Luminous' side was by no means inferior.
But excluding military force, magician forces were overwhelmingly more useful in terms of versatility, and above all, the more forces the better.
"The problem is... The hardliners don't care about such things. They want to show their power by crushing the demons."
"Hmph! Those pathetic bastards?"
I'd like to tell him how miserably Gray got beaten by Maria in the original work...
Even if I told him, he wouldn't believe it, and if I took him to Maria to prove it, he'd probably develop an irreparable trauma.
'That aside, this is definitely a big problem...'
Maria's inability to properly control Psychic Luminous is too big a risk factor.
Even in the original work, Maria had conflicts with Abel's party that didn't need to happen because she couldn't control them.
But to rashly purge them, they weren't saying they wanted to go into the light for personal greed...
'She's probably having quite a headache.'
Having succeeded in appeasing Yev, Rudian now stood up to resolve Psychic Luminous' problem.